Social Media is a forever-changing and growing platform that can be quite daunting for businesses to adapt to. This new form of attracting customers to your business has endless potential and possibilities. Social media can not only be used to get your name out there but can also be used to build a relationship with your customers. By using social media platforms, you can advertise and market with ease while you target specific demographics. It is highly recommended that you make use of the right platforms when advertising. This includes consumer-preferred platforms and networks. The overall goal is to promote your business but also increase sales.
People love to stay up-to-date with what is trending. After all, we are social people and love to see what is happening… This often results in growth spikes with the different social media platforms available. For now, I’ll be focusing on just some of the popular social media platforms and how they may benefit your business’s online presence.
The trending social platforms out there NOW
Statista provides a great overview when it comes to active users and their favourite social media platforms. Among which are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, WeChat, and TikTok. Although there are many social media platforms, the purpose of this blog post is not to discourage you from using other platforms. The purpose of this blog post is to showcase how each platform discussed, can benefit your business’ online presence. Each social platform has its own unique goal with its users and with each platform, there are pros and cons to using them.
What do you need to consider?
- Monthly active users: 2.9 billion
- Top age group: 25-35
With up to 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a social networking site that allows you to connect and share with family and friends online through videos, photos and status updates. Facebook has over one billion active users every day. Facebook is a great platform to interact with clients and reach target demographics. Most companies make use of Facebook’s Private Groups feature where individuals can join, engage, ask questions and enjoy a tailored interaction with the brand.
Facebook is a tool that practically any business can use. Paid advertisements are completely optional even if they can be expensive. It is best to keep your account active to stay in touch and communicate with users. As for the target demographic you wish to reach, according to Omnicore Agency, most Facebook users are between the ages of 25 and 35.
Pros
- No monthly costs for non-paid marketing
- Wide audience reach
- Powerful analytics
- Targeted Advertising
- Communication
Cons
- Regular monitoring of your profile is necessary
- Budget varies depending on your preferred reach to demographics
- Consistent engagement essential
- Little-to-no control if the page is suspended
- Spam can be commented on your posts
YouTube
- Monthly active users: 2.5 billion
- Top age group: 18-25
With up to 2.1 billion active users, YouTube is a video-based platform, it has become a platform where people not only go to watch videos but also learn new things. Because of this, YouTube is a unique platform but also a powerful tool for businesses.
Learning how to capture and edit videos that satisfy consumer expectations will probably take some time at first, but you don’t require a large budget. Modern smartphones are more than capable of filming videos with excellent quality. You’ll be well on your way to increasing traffic and conversions to your website if you only keep in mind to optimize your titles and descriptions for YouTube SEO. According to US Internet Population Statistics, the 18-25 year age group accounts for 81% of YouTube visitors. It is essential to keep this in mind should your target demographic be a part of the younger generation.
Pros
- Videos drive more conversions
- Great way to show off the brand’s personality
- High accessibility
- No limits to the length of video content
- Videos complement other marketing strategies
Cons
- Videos may take longer to produce
- Users have high-quality expectations
- Competition
- Free to use but you pay for ads
- Ranking your video can be difficult
- Monthly active users: 2 billion
- Top age group: 26-35
With up to two billion active users, WhatsApp has become a fast and simple social media platform to communicate with others. It is not only used to communicate but is a platform to compose group texts, send and receive documents and exchange photos or videos. Despite WhatsApp being targeted toward personal use, WhatsApp Business is more beneficial to customer interactions.
WhatsApp Business offers solutions to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages, which makes communicating with customers simple. Additionally, it’s designed to function and feel exactly like WhatsApp Messenger. Everything you’re used to doing, like messaging and sharing images, can be done with WhatsApp Business.
WhatsApp is used by most target age groups, however, according to Think Impact, the majority of active WhatsApp users are aged between 26 and 35 years old.
Pros
- Majority of phone users are on WhatsApp
- Used worldwide
- Easy to use interface
- Supports most file formats
Free-to-use tool
Cons
- Distractive, which is disruptive to productivity
- Mixes private and business communication
- Does not protect against data loss
- Unable to professionally manage users
- No thread of communication. Have to search manually to trace old posts
- Monthly active users: 2 billion
- Top age group: 18-29
Instagram started as a platform to share photos as its core use, with up to 1.4 billion monthly active users. Instagram has added video sharing through the forms of “stories”, “Reels”, and Live Videos. Instagram has become a platform for businesses to not only show their services and products but to also give them a voice.
Instagram is a great platform to use if your target market is a part of the younger generation, as 59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram.
Pros
- Appealing visual aspect
- Analytics tool called ‘Instagram Insights’
- Created for mobile usage
- Contact button to get in touch with business
- Links in story posts
Cons
- Potential for decreased visibility – lost in your follower’s feed
- Misleading metrics, followers do not always equal engaged customers
- Unable to see certain app aspects on the non-mobile devices
- Requires a lot of management
- Less-personal feel, followers can get overwhelmed with lack of organic content
- Monthly active users: 1.3 billion
- Top age group: 24 and younger
WeChat is known as a messaging platform with up to 1 billion monthly active users. This specific platform is targeted toward users who converse with others in different countries with VPN struggles or simply put, certain social media platforms are banned in their country. WeChat is not only a messaging platform but is also used as a social media and mobile payment platform.
WeChat allows customers to interact with your business in different ways and have personalised experiences that they can share with their communities. If your ideal target demographic is 24-and-under, then WeChat is a platform to consider as 33.5% of WeChat users are 24-and-under.
Pros
- Extremely wide reach globally
- Free to use
Virtual wallets called WeChat Pay - Interactive Features
- More engaging with clients
Cons
- WeChat’s rules are modified regularly
- Security issues
- Third-party may see or misinterpret messages
- Businesses are forced to adopt different channels to communicate with users from different regions
- Invasive of customer privacy
TikTok
- Monthly active users: 1 billion
- Top age group: 10-19
TikTok has up to 500 million daily active users, can be a goldmine of customer involvement for your company. The platform is a feasible choice for greater reach because it primarily concentrates on video content development rather than striving for monetization.
Because TikTok focuses on content creation rather than monetization, it’s best to get creative to make sure you make an impression and to get customers to want to learn more about your brand and business. Especially because the more active users on TikTok are aged between 10 and 19, first and good impressions are important with this specific demographic.
Pros
- Popular amongst the younger generation
- Audiences can engage in different ways (like, share, comment and favourite)
- Sharing a TikTok video can be viewed without the app installed
- Ad performance metrics are easily trackable via TikTok Advertising
- Link your Instagram account, YouTube, website URL and email address to your profile.
Cons
- Content format limitations
- Only allowed to make 15 seconds, 1 minute and 3-minute videos
- 150-Character video description limit
- Advertising costs vary
- Can’t easily link TikTok videos back to your website
What Content Can You Create?
- How-to’s, tutorials, and tips
- Take advantage of trending topics and hashtags
- Announce big news
- Share previews of upcoming promotions
- Shoutout to customers
- Share testimonials
- Let your audience meet the team
- Do an unboxing of your product
- Host and promote your live events
- Team up with other influencers/brands
- Share influencer content (IE using your products and services)
- Run contests and giveaways
- Show off Data with Infographics
The Do’s and Don’ts of Content Creation
- Maintain consistent branding
- Evoke visual clarity
- Be original and true to your brand
- Proofread your posts
- Post regularly
- Learn from your mistakes
- Analyze your content
- Track your progress
- Offer resources for your audience
- Use influencer marketing
- Build relationships and communities
- Create cluttered posts
- Centre everything
- Beg for engagement
- Forget about your audience
- Make assumptions
- Post too often
- Overuse hashtags
- Take things too personally
- Tag random accounts for exposure
- Be hesitant or impatient
- Overuse advertisements
- Maintain consistent branding
- Evoke visual clarity
- Be original and true to your brand
- Proofread your posts
- Post regularly
- Learn from your mistakes
- Analyze your content
- Track your progress
- Offer resources for your audience
- Use influencer marketing
- Build relationships
- Build communities
- Create cluttered posts
- Centre everything
- Beg for engagement
- Forget about your audience
- Make assumptions
- Post too often
- Overuse hashtags
- Take things too personally
- Tag random accounts for exposure
- Be hesitant or impatient
- Overuse advertisements
Download Kayla’s resource file. Perfect for when you are preparing for creating your excellent social media and marketing content.
Resource link: Tips-for-creating-excellent-Social-Media-and-marketing-content-Lets-Crea8.pdf
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- https://pros-cons.net/pros-and-cons-of-wechat/